By Karen MacNutt,
Contributing Editor

Ann Marie had planned a perfect vacation of two weeks hunting and fishing in Alaska. The lodge, located on a backwoods lake, was only accessible by air. She had never been to Alaska before. To her, it was the last great expanse of wilderness. The pictures in the travel catalogues were breathtaking. She read extensively on what would be needed. The guides and lodge came highly recommended. She had checklists of equipment needed and things she had to do. She sent for information on the gun, hunting and fishing laws in Alaska. She sent for the various permits and licenses she would need. She checked with TSA to find out what the latest regulations were for transporting her guns by air. She called each of the airlines she was going to travel on to make sure she complied with their rules for shipping guns. She filled out the forms and checked them twice. All was packed according to the dictates of the federal law and the airlines.

She had her tickets. There would be three connecting flights. Things were well planned. There would be a four hour layover at each connection point thus giving the airlines time to transship her luggage. She had a small carry on bag with sample sized cosmetics, her glasses, reading material and a light jacket. She made sure she removed her pocket knife from her bag and any other item which might upset security personnel. All of her other luggage would be checked through to her destination.

The big day came. A friend drove her to the airport. They checked in her luggage. All went smoothly. At the appointed time, the airplane lumbered onto the tarmac. All was peacefully boring until they approached Chicago, the first transship point for her connecting flights. There would be a slight delay in landing, said the voice on the intercom. Some problem somewhere had backed up flights. Ann Marie's flight would be in a holding pattern for a while. It was a long while. Even after they landed, the flight could not approach the gate. They had to wait.

Ann Marie started to worry about missing her connecting flight. Time was getting close. Then came the announcement. There was not enough time to transfer luggage to connecting flights. All passengers with connecting flights were directed to pick up their luggage at the baggage carrousel and carry it to the luggage check-in counter for their connecting flights.

Ann Marie waited impatiently for her luggage to appear on the baggage carrousel. One bag appeared, then another and another. Finally she had them all loaded on the luggage cart. She turned to start towards the gate for her connecting flight. It was only then that she noticed the police officer walking towards her.

"Are these your bags?" the officer asked.

"Yes," said Ann Marie.

"Are you sure?" the officer said. Impatiently Ann Marie produced her identification and noted her name tags on the bags. The officer thanked her and then placed her under arrest for being in possession of guns in Chicago without having the necessary local permits. She spent the night in jail. Her dream vacation had become a nightmare.
There are a number of major connecting airports in the United States where this could happen. Chicago, Boston, New York and Newark are some that come to mind immediately.

As long as your luggage is in checked-through baggage, federal law allows you to safely travel through any state provided it was lawful for you to possess the gun where your trip began and where it will end.

People traveling by air tend to look at airports as extensions of their flight. Because the airport feels like a place apart from the local community, we tend to forget that airports are in cities that have laws which differ from one location to another. Those local laws are as applicable to people within the airport's international terminal as they are to people standing on Main Street.

After the United States Supreme Court ruled that having a gun is a constitutional right, some people forgot that they still have to pay attention to local gun laws. Local laws, even unreasonable ones, are going to be around until someone challenges them in court. Even if a court strikes down a bad law, that is not the end of the story. Gun owners should expect the anti-gun faction to do all that it can to circumvent the Constitution. It will try to replace laws ruled unconstitutional with almost equally obnoxious laws. That will force the process of court challenge to start all over. The anti-gun faction has, in reality, no respect for civil rights, no respect for the Constitution and no respect for the rule of law.

The message for those of you who travel by common carrier is simple. Have any gun you are traveling with in your checked-through luggage. Do not take possession of that luggage until you reach your destination. If the airline insists that you take possession mid trip, go to the airline personnel, security or the local police at the terminal and ask them for instructions.

This is true for travel by air, train, buss or any other interstate, public means of transportation.

You might ask, "What public purpose was served by arresting Anne Marie?" The answer is clearly none. While the police are arresting her, transporting her to an already over- worked trial court, checking her through an understaffed probation department, having an understaffed police department make out a lot of paper work and then paying some officer overtime to go to court on her case at least twice, having an assistant district attorney who has more cases than he knows what to do with appear at her arraignment and trial to represent the interests of the state.

There is a politics to this. Some official will use Ann Marie's arrest to claim his office is tough on gun crimes.

There is no public safety issue involved in Ann Marie's case. Her arrest brings the public no benefit. The law, as applied to her, fails to meet the "rational basis" test which courts apply to determine the validity of laws that do not impact constitutional rights. But, in Ann Marie's case, there are three constitutional issues involved.

1. The refusal of some states to recognized the firearms licenses of other states burdens the right of Americans to travel freely throughout the United States. This is one of the privileges and immunities of a citizen of the United States.

2. The refusal to recognize out of state licenses infringes on a citizen's right to carry arms for self-defense. This is probably more so in the case of a motorist on an interstate highway than in the case of a traveler by air.

3. The refusal to recognize out of state licenses interferes with interstate commerce.

Ann Marie's situation highlights the total lack of meaningful purpose of one state refusing to recognize the firearms license of another state. There are, however, other segments of our community where that refusal endangers lives.
Interstate truckers keep our stores stocked with supplies. They bring the food that fills our refrigerators. They bring gas for our cars. Sometimes they transport dangerous chemicals and explosives. Some carry military equipment. Day and night they travel our highways alone. You see them stopped in rest areas. What you do not see is the large number of interstate truckers who are attacked for their cargo. Hijackings are more common than the general public is aware of because the crime statistics are scattered across every state and because hijackings tend to get lumped into the statistics for other crimes. Being a long-haul truck driver is a dangerous business. Drivers are not only the targets of crime, they could, depending upon their cargo, also be the targets of terrorists. Other than a tire iron under the seat, those drivers have no legal means of defending themselves from organized criminal activity. That is wrong. They should be able to carry a gun if they are qualified and they should be able to do so interstate.

In addition to the truckers, there are thousands of retired Americans who call their recreational vehicle "home." They follow the seasons north to south for the good weather. They are constantly on the road enjoying the sights of our great nation. They also are often in areas where police presence is minimal. They also are vulnerable. They too should have the right to carry a gun interstate for self-defense if they are otherwise qualified.

States that require non-residents to pay for a special non-resident gun license to possess guns in their states, even if the gunowner is licensed in his or her home state, have no valid public safety purpose for that requirement. It is simply a tax on non-resident gunowners.

If the only complaint against these laws were that they are useless, it would be bad. But, these laws are endangering lives and it is time to put an end to them.

Many states have already passed reciprocity laws that recognize the licenses of other states. Unfortunately, many state-passed laws say that they will recognize the license of any state that recognizes their license. Some of the biggest problem areas are in states and municipalities that will not recognize the licenses of other states. Although state reciprocity laws are a good interim measure, they still leave the interstate traveler with a patchwork of laws to figure out and try to comply with.

What is needed is a federal law that requires all states to recognize the licenses of all other states. While the issuing of licenses should remain in the hands of local government, a national reciprocity law is, as the anti-gun folks like to say, "reasonable legislation." It should be passed.

Until that happens, interstate travelers need to beware. Know the laws of the states that you are traveling through. Federal law allows you to travel though a state even if you are not licensed in that state if: 1) you legally possess the gun where your trip begins and ends, 2) the gun in unloaded and locked in a case, 3) the gun is not accessible to you either because it is locked in the trunk of your car or in checked luggage on public transportation such as an airplane, train or bus. In those cars that do not have trunks, you must figure out some way to satisfy the requirement that the gun is not readily accessible to the driver or passengers.

Although current federal law allows you to transport a gun across country, it does not allow you to have a gun available for self-defense. If my home town police chief trusts me to carry a gun around town for protection, there is no justifiable reason for some other state to deny me that right when I travel this great nation. The time for national reciprocity is now.